Trying to wean 15 month old

01-03-2011, 08:09 PM

Hi! I'm new on here and most of my friends do Babywise (eek!) so I was hoping to find some similar minded attachment mama's for some advice...
Hers's our issue:
My daughter is 15 months old and breastfed until about 2 months ago when she rejected the new taste/my milk dried up from my 2nd pregnancy(now 19 weeks). She's never taken a pacifier and i always nursed her to sleep so we needed to come up with a new way to get her down. She just wasn't ready to quit nursing(it was pretty traumatic for both of us) or to have only a cup so we began giving her a bottle of goats milk for naps and bedtime only. She is now SO attached! I'm worried about her teeth since she falls asleep with it so we'd really like to get rid of the bottle altogether, but she screams and screams and I'm just not ok with CIO. We started diluting the milk in hopes that over time it would just be a bottle of water but we're down to 2 oz milk, 5 oz water and she's still holding strong. Anyone have any advice? Thanks

Hi, were you able to get it down to completely water? It sounds like she just wants the bottle for comfort since your family is going through several changes right now. I personally wouldn't be worried about the teeth for a little while longer, maybe age 2. You have so much else going on right now I'm sure!

Comment

My brother is a pediatric dentist, and he strongly advises not to put baby down with milk of any kind. That said, I nursed my now 18 mo. daughter most nights up until she was about 15 months or so, and sometimes lately if she is really tired, she'll fall asleep while nursing also. My mom would give us a bottle with water in it at night after she brushed our teeth when we were toddlers. There's not really anything wrong with that in my opinion, and if it's something that works & provides comfort, then why not? Most pediatric dentists recommend ditching the binky/bottle by 2 and the thumb by 3. I would imagine that by the time she is 2 (or before), you can begin to reason with her better, as she will be able to comprehend more, and you'll probably be able to make better progress then.
My suggestions for you would be to 1)continue to dilute the milk more until it is only water. Until then, make sure you brush her teeth first thing in the morning! 2)introduce (if you haven't already) a lovie/stuffed animal that she can have at times she needs comfort (i.e. nap & bedtime). This way, when you do ditch the bottle, she can still have an item of comfort that she is used to.
Hope this helps!